Why are peope so scared of sharp knives?

Funny this thread comes up now, I had just such an experience on Saturday night.

We were preparing for a party and my friend says "Hey dude, do you have a knife on you?" (knowing that I always do)

Me: "Of course, what do you need it for?" ALWAYS ASK THIS, never just hand them your knife, assuming you also want the tip back. Unfortunately I am speaking from experience.

Friend: "I want to cut the top off of this bottle to use as a funnel."

Me: "Oh ok, sure", hand him the CRKT Tuition that I was carrying that day.

Friend: "Holy @%$# that thing is sharp! Why didn't you tell me!?!?"

He cut the bottle without incident, nothing happened. He wasn't mad, but I could tell that he actually meant it, he genuinely was surprised that I didn't warn him.

Me: "Uhhhh, why wouldn't you assume that it was?" :rolleyes:
 
Funny thing - I've never heard anyone say
"Your saw/chisel/plane/stanley knife is too sharp". I think this is because a cabinetmaker or carver will maintain his tools and people expect them to be sharp and people usually know better that to use them (if they knew how). Most households don't maintain their knives so people expect knives will be blunt unless brand new.
 
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Most people don't appreciate or know how to maintain, a sharp knife. They aren't taught the value.

In addition, many, many foods come preprocessed these days. Meat is already cut, vegetables already cut, bread already cut, etc. This "pre-processed" food has made the need for good sharp knives less of an issue unless someone really likes to do that kind of work themselves (most don't).

Andy
 
This is my sharpest knife, it can go through 13-15 oz leather like it was butter, this is scary sharp, it was made for me by Tony Bell from a pattern I lifted of Tom Sterns old Osbourn round knife, it's half the size of a standard head knife.

I don't let anyone use this knife, even my wife, who just used my chasing hammer to drive a nail :(, knows to stay away from it.

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OOPs!
 
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Dekz said:
He cut the bottle without incident, nothing happened. He wasn't mad, but I could tell that he actually meant it, he genuinely was surprised that I didn't warn him.
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Unless he was going to do something stupid like cut towards himself or what have you, why need a warning? Heh, you shoulda said "Sorry... I shoulda told you not to use it like a careless dumbass." :D

Andrew Colglazier said:
In addition, many, many foods come preprocessed these days. Meat is already cut, vegetables already cut, bread already cut, etc. This "pre-processed" food has made the need for good sharp knives less of an issue unless someone really likes to do that kind of work themselves (most don't).
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Yep, in the already knife-desolate urban realm, even the kitchen knife - about the last bastion of bladed tool use in your average city - is becoming a novelty among these pre-processed food consumers.

Can't speak for other folk Andy, but I love cutting up stuff for food. It's at the top of my list of favourite domestic chores, except the occasional cutting of firewood. I'll even forego using a microrasp to zest garlic in favour of working a little more garlic patina on some of my blades. :)
 
hushnel said:
Bad knife technique in the kitchen, Let them work in a professional kitchen for a few weeks or have to process a fair quantity of food and their tune will change.
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Amen to this, when you work in a kitchen you quickly find out how annoying a dull knife is. Especially when the other cooks are waiting and you are fumbling around trying to slice up a tomato with a dull knife while they yell at you. I freaking hate dull knives. I only worked in a kitchen for 8 months too. That knife has to glide through that grilled chicken breast without pulling or the presentation is ruined.

I got my sister a Byrd Robin to take with her to school. When she came back for the summer, I sharpened it. It was much sharper than the factory edge and I proved it by slicing up some magazine paper and whittling some hair. I didn't get thanked, all I got was: "Uhh, maybe I won't get you to sharpen it next time."
 
WongKonPow said:
I didn't get thanked, all I got was: "Uhh, maybe I won't get you to sharpen it next time."
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That's gratitude for ya! :rolleyes:

Geez, that's like saying they wouldn't get you to fix their car again because you got it working better than when it was new. :confused:
 
This thread needs more funny anecdotes of hapless peeps getting sliced.

In terms of the "what is safer, a sharp or dull knife" question, I KNOW the prevailing wisdom is that sharp knives are safer. The only thing I can say is that dull knives saved my fingers for almost 3 decades of cooking, before I discovered how to sharpen at Bladeforums. Now, my knives are mercilessly sharp.


For some of the "sharp is safer" crowd: My pal's dad is a butcher. At his home kitchen, all the knives are scarey sharp. They are so sharp that I am very reluctant to even drag my thumb perpendicular to the edge!

If I was ever to chop off a finger, it would have been with one of those. Still got all 10, tho. They did NOT give me a "safe" feeling, at all.

Do scarey sharp kitchen knives give the guys here a safe feeling? They don't for me. Maybe it's all the scars on both hands.
 
If a knife is not scary sharp it's dull. :D

So yes, scary sharp knives gives me a sense of safety and they're more fun to use.

There's nothing more irritating than trying to slice a tomato with a dull knife.
 
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Some people should not drive cars, others should not use "sharp" knives, some should wear safety helmets anytime they go outside.
 
Probably because they have to be more careful with the sharp knives.

I can't tell you how many times someone has picked up one of my knives and fingered the blades, sometimes cutting themselves. Sharp knives command respect, just as do guns and the ocean. And as much as I love the ocean, I've never lost my respect for it.

Everytime I've cut myself, it's been with a sharp knife. The last time was about a week ago when my wife startled me while I was opening mail. Barreled into the room hollering my name and I cut into my finger. I was angry at her and me.
 
After I became proficient at sharpening I went through all the kitchen knives and put a polished hair splitting edge on them. My wife said they were too sharp and I scoffed. She cut herself a few days later, not a bad cut, but a noticeable one. I said she needed to be more careful and she agreed. A week or so later she got another cut, a small one. Since then she hasn't cut herself once and its been several years now. Now if we are helping out in the kitchen at friends' houses and they have dull knives, she asks me for whichever knife I have in my pocket :D

A sharp knife is a very different tool that requires more skill and care than a dull one to use safely but the rewards go without saying :thumbup:
 
Erasmus said:
This thread needs more funny anecdotes of hapless peeps getting sliced.
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I don't have any particularly unique ones...just bunches of times when I hand it to them and before I can finish saying "Careful it's sharp" they are already sucking on their cut finger. :rolleyes:

The timing of that sequence always gets me...it's like it's planned for comedic effect.

The more stoic among them tend to respond with something understated, along the lines of "I noticed."
 
How about this, "WE" call them scary sharp. And I wouldn't have a knife any other way.

Do you know how the table knife or butter knife got it's rounded edge?
 
While I was working my way through college at a local super market, one boring Sunday a produce worker asked me to sharpen the knife he was using to trim heads of lettuce. I checked with the store manager to see if it was OK for me to use the stones from the meat department and proceeded to put a razor edge on the knife. He loved it, but when I arrived at work Monday night, the rest of the produce department had bandages on their thumbs. I got chewed out and was told to never do that again as they liked the knife dull..
 
"Can I see your knife?" It is usually a happy question by someone who genuinely wants to look closely at my knife, not even to really use it. An admiration. A chance to show a person knives are not as evil or destructive as a politicians tongue. Then what happens? The person starts to see if it is sharp by running their thumb on the edge!
 
I know someone who grabbed the blade of a razor sharp knife while someone else was using it to cut through rope. This person was very close to being an Eagle Scout at the time. It took a complete chunk out of their hand, as in, a rather large avulsion. :(
 
theonew said:
After I became proficient at sharpening I went through all the kitchen knives and put a polished hair splitting edge on them. My wife said they were too sharp and I scoffed. She cut herself a few days later, not a bad cut, but a noticeable one. I said she needed to be more careful and she agreed. A week or so later she got another cut, a small one. Since then she hasn't cut herself once and its been several years now.
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This illustrates a good point: using a knife with a proper level of sharpness makes you aware of the caution that is necessary when using bladed implements. For example, a chainsaw will take your leg off in a jiffy... that doesn't mean we opt to cut down trees with one fitted with a bike chain... we keep our limbs clear of harm's way!

Regarding the notion that sharp knives are safer... well, this is entirely context-dependent. If, for example you're in the kitchen cutting peppers or other skinned veggies/fruits, a sharp knife is less likely to slide on the skin and hit one's fingers. A sharp blade will require less force to go through material, so you won't have your arm turning into a virtual spear-trap waiting to go off. By that same token, however, a sharp knife will also go more easily through the flesh of people who are just plain careless. Bottom line is, carelessness is the most dangerous factor in the equation.
 
At my Local pub (think of Cheers on the TV,you U.S. people) the Landlord of that estabishment said to me "I heard you can sharpen knives,can you sharpen my special Chefs knife"
I did so the next day and returned it before he had to prepare the meals for that evening.
The "crowd" in the bar was quite concerned when he sent his wife to serve in the bar which she had not done in the previous six months of joint-ownership of the Pub.
He had to return and show a BIG bandage on his thumb (he was a Chef by trade as well)
Laughter rang out when he said to me "I did not feel it"
 
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